New job, new food
So this is what I ate for lunch in my first week at my new job:
Monday – a chicken kebab with tomato, lettuce, mayonnaise and barbecue sauce
All kebabs come with your choice of two sauces – I really wanted garlic sauce as one of them, but as I had a meeting in the afternoon, I didn’t think it was a good idea for the new girl to make an extra-garlicky first impression*. :-P The kebab dribbled barbecue sauce and mayo every time I bit into it and was very messy to eat – I also dropped lettuce everywhere – but it was very good.
Tuesday – lemon chicken, rice, noodles and stir-fried vegetables
I bought a Multi-V juice to wash it all down.
The battered pieces of chicken were delicious – tender and flavoursome, in a lemon sauce that was not overly sweet – something I like in a lemon sauce. The rice noodles were surprisingly good – they had a tangy asam-like flavour (tamarind flavour) that I found I really enjoyed. If I’d known these noodles were so good I’d have asked for all noodles and no rice. The vegetables tasted fresh, the broccoli and cauliflower pleasingly firm to the bite, all flavoured with soy and garlic.
Wednesday -“Southern-style chicken wing” (as described on the specials menu), chips and dipping sauce
This was the most unhealthy meal I ate during the week. It sounded good in theory, but the enormous wings and chips were served in a takeaway container that made it impossible to not make a mess all over the table as I ate. The wings were served piping hot and crisp, which is great as it meant they’d been deep-fried to order, but they were finger-burningly hot and tricky to eat. Every time I bit into a chicken wing or attempted to tear off some skin or meat, bits of batter would fall onto the table. The dipping sauce was a strange choice. It was thick and syrupy and rather like kicap manis, which I would not serve as a dipping sauce for seasoned chicken wings and chips. I’m guessing that some of you will be grossed out by the “hairy” wing in the photo. :)
Thursday – Thai green curry and fried egg with rice
This was purchased as a fridge boxed meal which was heated up for me. I took my box of food over to a patch of lawn and sat down to eat my lunch and read my personal emails. I bought a lemon and lychee Nudie juice as well.
The Thai green curry was nice, but there wasn’t enough gravy! The chicken pieces were a little dry but the flavour was good, and I enjoyed the potato and green beans. Next to the curry, on top of the rice, was a fried egg, which went down very well. I love fried eggs – well, I love eggs in general!
As I get more settled I hope to get back to a balance of some home-packed bento lunches and some bought lunches. But right now I’m trying to work out a few practicalities – should I cycle to work or stick with the bus? I think I’ll try to cycle on fine days and take the bus when the winter rain starts up – but I need to put the bike in for a service, as it’s been sitting unused in the garage for a fair while. What wake-up time each morning will allow me enough time to exercise, make lunch, publish a blog post and get ready for work to be in at x time? But of course, if I cycle, then that time has to be factored in, and I won’t need to do the additional exercise in the morning as cycling will be the exercise.
*I always chew mint gum after eating lunch, and I even have dental floss, a toothbrush and toothpaste in my drawer at work, but I guess being new made me feel paranoid.